-To assist social movements fighting for human rights and freedoms, social justice, popular self-government and self-management.

Activities of the PraxisCenter:

The Victor Serge Library. The PraxisCenter organizes the work of an international Public Library, containing over 6,000 documents in six languages devoted to the history and theory of anti-totalitarian socialism, as well as to literature. The library was founded in Moscow in 1997 and named after Victor Serge,Russian-French writer, the anti-totalitarian socialist thinker and fighter; the Center also supports similar projects in other cities (like the Victor Serge Public Library in Sebastopol).

Publication. The PraxisCentertranslates, publishes and distributes books, devoted to the history and theory of anti-totalitarian socialism, as well as literature. Special attention is paid to translation and publication of works in other languages previously unavailable to Russian readers.

Ideological and political laboratory. The PraxisCenter brings together representatives of various tendencies among democratic and libertarian left and promotes dialogue between them. Praxis provides them with the open tribune at the Library and on its web site for discussions of contemporary socio-political problems and the elaboration of new ideas and common positions.

Participation in social campaigns and actions. The PraxisCenter supports human rights, humanitarian, trade union, ecological and other progressive campaigns and actions, provides their participants with information and consultative assistance.

The demonstrations of December 10th and 24th in Moscow, in which tens of thousands of people took part, show clearly that the period of social passivity in Russia is over; the Putin era is nearing its end. The last time such large demonstrations took place in Moscow was in 1990–91 at the height of the democratic wave directed against the domination of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Then, as a result of these mass actions, the whole party-state system of the USSR began to crumble. Those who participated in those events twenty years ago are feeling the same atmosphere again : revolution is in the air.

The rising wave of protest has demystified the key myth of Putinism : the myth of a durable ‘consensus’ between the people and the authorities in Russia. What was revealed, is that it was not just a few small ‘marginal’groups but the mass of ordinary active people who no longer were willing to exchange their civil and political rights for Putin-style ‘stability.’ Many people were surprised by such an awakening after ten years of social hibernation. But in fact it was inevitable. The margin of security of the regime that had taken power in Russia at the turn of the 21st Century was limited from the very beginning.

19 January 2009 our comrade, human rights lower Stanislav Markelov and young anti-fascist journalist Anastasia Baburova were assassinated in the center of Moscow. Stanislav Markelov, 34, defended interests of victims of Russian government’s policy in Chechnya, anti-fascists, activists of independent trade unions and social movements. As a convinced democrat and socialist he participated in various campaigns for justice and freedom in Russia and internationally.

The murder of Markelov and Baburova is definitely an act of political terror. Most probably, responsibility for this crime belongs to ultra-right gangsters, whose activity is growing in Russia every day. Attacks on “non-white” people on the streets of Moscow and other cities became something usual, and several prominent anti-fascists were killed recently. Other victims of political terrorism are oppositional journalists, principled critics of the existing Russian political regime – Anna Politkovskaya, Magomed Evloev, Mikhail Beketov

The growth of pro-fascist forces in Russia is objectively encouraged by the whole political atmosphere in the country. While acts of political terrorism mostly go unpunished, the authorities and their mass media are engaged in hysterical propaganda of “patriotism”, authoritarianism, great-power sentiments, hostility towards external and internal “enemies”. Under such conditions, criminals against humanity (both of present and past) are painted as “heroes” and those struggling against them as “traitors”. The last article by Markelov, “Patriotism as diagnosis” was devoted precisely to denouncing these awful ideas. And one hour before his assassination, Stanislav spoke at the press-conference protesting against pre-term release from prison of the war criminal colonel Budanov, who raped and killed a Chechen woman. Stanislav was a legal representative of her relatives, he received many threats from supporters of “heroic officer” Budanov – and was killed a few days after the latter’s release

The release of Budanov and the murder of Markelov are certainly linked, even if not directly: both characterize the real situation in Russia today.

Though now the world civil society can’t stop the political terrorism in Russia by its own forces, it could be able to exert pressure on Russian authorities by showing that their passive or even objectively encouraging attitude towards escalating fascist violence ruins the international “image” of the Russian state, finally discrediting it in the eyes of the global public opinion.

Therefore, we ask all socialists, democrats and libertarians to send letters to Russian Embassies in your countries, expressing indignation about political terrorism in Russia, demanding thorough investigation of murder of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova and punishment of its organizers.

Praxis Research and Educational Center

21.01.09

Beware of Vegetarian Sharks

This illustrated collection of Greeman’s Radical Rants and Internationalist Essays is a frontal attack on capitalism by a veteran socialist, scholar and activist. Greeman’s satirical studies, which range from the Rebellious Sixties to our Decadent Decade, deal with globalized capitalism’s crisis, revolutionary history and future prospects for a new society. Some titles: «Where Are the Riots of Yesteryear?» «The Invisible International,» «Who are the Good Guys (if any) in Iraq?» «Religion and Repression in the U.S. (a Case of Political Pathology)» «Back in the U.S.S.R.» «Victor Serge» and «Ecotopia: A Bet You Can’t Refuse.»

We are a group of human rights activists based in the State of Maine (USA)–students, teachers, business people, home-keepers, journalists, workers, parents, civic leaders, and more. We feel that far too little attention has been paid to the enormous human rights violations going on in Chechnya and the Caucasus. In the United States, this has resulted in an almost total blackout of information in the popular media or a gross distortion of events. We have sponsored seminars, panel presentations, poetry readings, and speakers on Chechnya. We have collected books and winter clothing and shipped them to schools and families in Chechnya. We have sponsored sister-city projects between Chechen and Maine communities. We advocated for a resolution on Chechnya and the Caucasus that Dr. Barry H. Rodrigue wrote and Representative Elaine Makas sponsored in the Maine State Legislature. We are also advocating for a similar resolution in the United States Congress. You may contact us through the address of one of our sponsors listed on the front cover page of our booklet Chechnya, the Caucasus, & World Justice.